thai food

[michigangirly]

okay i just love thai food and i miss my favorite dish ever pad thai....does anyone have any psuedo (sp) recipes or similiar ideas? i miss the spice and flavors!

[scott123]

First off, go to an Asian grocer and get your hands on some soy shiritake noodles:



They're a little rubbery, but for making lc pad thai, they're about as good as you're going to get.

Once you've got the noodles, come back and talk to me

[Heidi3]

I do not know how to replicate the Phad Thai but I sure can tell you how to make a perfect green curry!!! low carb and wonderful so if you are interested I will post it!!!

[Miss Phode]

I don't know if she's interested, but I am! Please post Nursey!

[michigangirly]

do you think they'd sell those noodles at a health food store? i'm not aware of any asian foods stores near me...

[Heidi3]

this is very good and very easy you can use it on chicken or seafood! especially prawns and scallops!!! I love mine hot hot but it can be made mild I can post how to make the green curry paste from scratch if you like but it is available everywhere these days...if you can not find it or want to make your own let me know all you need is a food processor to make it...here you go

Green Curry

2 Tbl veggie oil
2-3Tbl green curry paste (any Asian market or I have seen it in most large grocers in the Asian section) if you buy a tub it lasts forever keep it tightly closed in the frig..also these pastes usually do not contain anything that would be off limits even on induction they are made from things like ginger, chiles, lemon grass ect no sugar or starches and usually it is easy to read what is in them and sometimes they actually have the carb count listed)
1 lb of large prawns, scallops or boneless chicken brest diced in 1 inch peaces
4 chopped up keffir lime leaves (if you can not find these just squeeze a lime and that will be fine)
1 stalk of lemon grass bruised and chopped
1 cup of coconut milk (if you can not find a small can the rest freezes fine for later)
2-3 tble of fish sauce
peel and seed then slice 1 cucumber
a bunch of basil (I have found basil to be much better, fresher and cheaper at Asian markets it is only a dollar a bunch!)
chop up a few hot green chiles (wear gloves or use a fork to hold the chile while you slice)

here you go easy once you get it all assembled!

1. heat oil in a skillet or fry pan until a drop of water sizzles
add the curry paste and saute :icondance then add the prawns or whatever saute :icondance until just barely cooked like 2 min
2. add the coconut milk bring to a boil for about 5 min ..do not over cook!
3. at the last min stir in the cucumbers, basil and chiles and serve directly from the pan to your plates! that is it!!! three steps and done in min...

I can eat half this recipe myself! I have doubled the sauce and added vegggies like peppers onions and bamboo shoots...to it as well makes a full meal deal!..

you can top this with chopped nuts and more hot stuff if you like!...enjoy!
Love, Nursey

PS Scott I have searched for those noodles and let me tell you we have a lot of Asian Markets here even the size of a Safeway and I have not found them!!! Maybe online?....

[Miss Phode]

Nurselady,
I can't wait to try your Green Curry recipe. I need to go get a few ingredients and make this sometime this week. My husband is gonna be thrilled. On sunday I made your chicken curry recipe. It was to die for. Actually, it was better the second day as left overs than it was the day I initially made it. My husband added shredded coconut to his. It was awsome. We recently moved to Florida and we really miss our favorite Indian and Thai restaurants. Now I can make food at home that's just as good

Thanks so much.

Teresa

[Heidi3]

I always make extra for my lunch the next day then I heat it up and people are all in my food with their forks!!!! I put toppings on it as well! I also make a jicama salad with lime and cilantro for a cool veggie on the side....I like it hot hot...later when you hit the rung you can eat it with low carb tortillas..or papadums ...they are made from lentils so you can add them on the legume rung ..YUMMO!!!

[NulloModo]

Major flavors used in lots of thai cooking are:

Lime Juice (actually Kaffir Lime leaves, but Lime Juice is a passable and much easier to find alternative, use a little zest for extra punch)

Peanut Butter (as in the natural stuff, or just peanuts, not the sugary stuff)

Coconut milk/cream (as well as coconut meat)

Thai Bird Chiles (Chile de Pequin is also a passable sub)

Serrano Chiles (these look like smaller jalepenos, a little more heat, but a cooler heat)

Fish Sauce (a concentrated anchovy extract in salt solution)

Galangal (a close relative of ginger, you can use fresh ginger instead)

Cilantro

Thai food uses lots of other flavors too, but these are some of the biggies. If you combine these in various ways in your dishes you will likely get that thai taste.

[Heidi3]

Look I think he is really back!!!! :icondance :icondance :icondance

[scott123]

do you think they'd sell those noodles at a health food store? i'm not aware of any asian foods stores near me...

I don't think you can find these at a health food store. If you tell me what area of Michigan you're in, I can do a search for Asian grocers.

Nullo, I'd add lemongrass, garlic and shallot to that list of 'biggies.' And I'm not in agreement on ginger subbing for galangal. Galangal brings piney notes to the table that ginger lacks.

[Miss Phode]

OK Scott. What time is dinner?

[higgies]

Oh mna...Pad Thai....I miss that so much too! :sadblinky

[Miss Phode]

I guess in reality, the main flavors that make it pad thai are legal. I guess you could make zucchini ribbons (slice raw zucchini with a potato peeler in to long thin strips) and stir fry your chicken with fish sauce, a little splenda, red pepper flakes, fried tofu, a beaten egg, mung sprouts, keffir lime, or just plain lime juice (I'm trying to remember what else is in Pad Thai). It wouldn't be the same, but it might help. Top it off with some ground peanuts (not during induction). Throw it all on top of zucchini ribbons. OK, I'm starting to drool.......

[scott123]

OK Scott. What time is dinner?

Anytime I've got 7 bags of soy shiritake noodles in the fridge as we speak.

The one primary ingredient that I'm not sure about the carb count on is tamarind juice. You don't find tamarind much in recipes, but at the same time, I've never had Pad Thai in a restaurant that didn't have it. It's a tricky count due to the fact that you're extracting the juice from the paste.